‘WE all pass by our local church car park and if you see a strange car you can bet that they’re there dropping off drugs locally.” - Cllr Tim Broderick.

MDC seeks resources to tackle ‘lawlessness and drug abuse’

Free legal aid is ‘feeding criminality’, says Cllr Geraghty

IRATE at the level of crime and perceived lawlessness across their area, councillors from Ballinasloe Municipal District will jointly write to both the Minster for Justice and Chief Superintendent for Galway requesting greater investment in policing.

Cllr Declan Geraghty initially raised the matter at a recent meeting of its members and pointed towards a spate of burglaries that have occurred locally in recent times.

The Williamstown-based councillor described a family home being broken into as “the most terrible thing that can happen” and was aware of a situation where people left their house to attend a funeral, only to return to find their home ransacked and with bleach thrown around.

Cllr Geraghty added that a lack of patrol cars and gardaí made it possible for “parasites” to enter homes with very little fear of being apprehended or found.

“A message I would want to get out there is that if people see something suspicious, they need to report it to the gardaí. Or report it to us [councillors] and I will report it,” added Cllr Geraghty, who also voiced frustration that there was still no representative from the Ballinasloe MDC on the Joint Policing Committee…

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